10 and 13: a podcache adventure Mystery Cache

Hello fellow cachers, this is Ichabod, welcome to 10 and 13: a podcache adventure. To find this cache, you need to listen to this recording and follow the clues that I provide. The intent is that you listen to this recording as you search for the cache with a portable mp3 player, or similar device, or you could listen to the recording on your computer before you head out and take notes while you listen. If you don't have an mp3 player, or don't want to play the file provided, you can use the transcript of the recording on the cache page.

This cache is dedicated to my grandparents. It is set-up similar to two of my multi-caches in the Silverton area in honor of my parents, 30 and 31. It should be fairly straight forward, but since final coordinates are not provided, it is a mystery ... but not a puzzle.

Before we get to how to find the cache, just one word of warning about the hike to the final location, it can get rather muddy at times and the path to the final is not very well traveled, so it could be quite over-grown, particularly in the summer, so please come prepared.

Alright, enough of that ... let's get on with the cache ...

To start, go to the posted coordinates at Willamette National Cemetery. The cemetery is open from 7am to 5pm daily. At the given coordinates you will find a headstone for my grandmother and grandfather who's birth years are 1910 and 1913, respectively, so you are looking for a man, listed first on the headstone, born in 1913 and his wife born in 1910. Go ahead and look around until you find them, I'll wait.

Once you've found the headstone, you will need to extract some information for the next set of coordinates, so grab a notepad or your pda. You will be gathering ten numbers from the information found on the headstone. I will label these numbers with the letters A through J.

Let's start with my grandfather.

Look at his birth date and specifically at the day he was born. Our first letter, letter A equals the first digit of the day he was born. So if he was born on the fifteenth, A would equal one.

Now take a look at his middle name. Count the total number of letters in his middle name. This equals B.

Now that you've got that. Look at the third line of his inscription. There are a total of four lines for his inscription. His name is on the first line, followed by his rank, etc. You will find a number on the third line of the inscription, this equals C.

My grandfather served in the Army for more than twenty one years and another nine years in the reserves. During his career he served in two different wars. Count the letters in the second war, shown on the marker, take that number and add two to it. This equals D.

Now look at his rank. Count the total number of letters on that whole line and subtract one from the total. This equals E.

You should have five numbers now, A, B, C, D and E.

Let's move on to my grandmother. She was born in 1910 in Arkansas. She did a great many things during her long life, including teaching school during the depression and building airplanes during World War II. After WWII she continued building aircraft for a company in San Diego.

Take a look at the date of her death. Add one to the month of her death. This will equal F.

My grandmother had a rather unusual first name. Count the letters in her first name and then subtract five from that total, this will equal G.

Now take a look at her day of birth, which just happens to be the same as her day of death. Take the two digits of the day she was born and add them together. This equals H.

Sticking with her birth date. Take the month she was born and subtract seven from it. This equals I.

We are almost done. Now, for the letter J, look at the marker number in the upper right hand corner of the headstone. It is a letter followed by a three digit number. J equals the last digit of that number.

Okay, so now you have your ten numbers, A through J. The checksum for all of the numbers you've just gathered is forty-three. Punch those into your GPS as North 45 AB.CDE and West 122 FG.HIJ.

These coordinates are for where you will park to continue your journey. These parking coordinates are less than two miles from your current location. The best way to get there is to head North when leaving the cemetery to Foster Rd. and then continue on from there. Go ahead and pause the recording now and turn it back on once you've reached the parking coordinates.

Okay, you've reached the parking coordinates. You'll know you are in the right spot if you see a post here with a four digit number. The first and last numbers are the same and the middle two numbers are the same. Go past the barriers and head up the hill. When you reach the top, you will be on a plateau with some young trees on it. This area is owned by the Portland Metro Parks System.

From this spot, turn North and head across the plateau. Once you reach the North side of the plateau, you'll see a road heading down the hill to the North. Turn West. You can just make out a faint road bed heading off to the west. Go that way, past the pile of fire wood and on up the hill. The path is rather over-grown here. Head up the hill and after about 60 meters you will come to a Tee in the road.

The road goes down the hill to the north and up the hill to the south. Turn South and head up the hill. This section can be pretty muddy. Continue on up the hill about 100 meters until you come to a spot that is very wet and the trail turns to the East and continues uphill.

Follow the path to the East and up the hill. There are blue flags on both sides of the road. There is a blue flag on a fir tree on the right side of the road as you start up the hill. A little bit wet through here. As you come up the hill, the road turns slightly to the south. There are a bunch of downed limbs and logs that you have to step over. Once you get across those logs, you come to the next Y in the road.

A branch of the road goes down the hill and off to the East. That goes on for about a ¼ of a mile and then vanishes off into the Forest. We're going to continue on up the hill to the South.

There is a moss covered tree down across the road here that has been cut away just after you pass under a large widow-maker. The road branches off here. A branch of the road heads off to the West on slightly level ground. You could follow that road to another branch that turns up hill to the South, but we are going to continue straight up the hill to the South here.

There are quite a few small logs and branches across this part of the road, and I've noticed a lot of young nettles in the middle of the roadway that will be quite nasty in summer. More small logs in the road way. A lot of moss on the ground here and a bit drier.

After about 100 meters from the last junction, you will reach the next Y that turns back to the Northwest. There are a bunch of branches across the road heading back to the Northwest and a tall cedar tree on the Southwest corner of the junction.

Continue up the hill to the South for about 15 meters until you see a game trail crossing the trail, running from Southeast to Northwest. You can follow the game trail to the East almost directly to the cache, but if it is over-grown, it will likely be easier to continue up the trail for another 10 meters or so and find a more manageable path into a group of cedar and fir trees. There is a rusty 5 gallon bucket near this stand. Walk through the clearing underneath and down and around these trees.

There is a small stream bed running down the hill to the North about 15 feet East. Once around the trees, turn North. Directly ahead is a stump about 10 feet away and another stump another 10 feet beyond that. The game trail mentioned earlier comes in between these two stumps. The second stump has a large piece of sheet metal bent around it. Go around to the North side of the stump. There is a hole between the stump and the sheet metal. Reach in and pull out the cache.

Congratulations.